Plants make way more practical pets than do animals. Which is why, when I saw a pineapple plant at the garden center last spring, I brought one home. It had a cute little mini pineapple growing in the middle, and I thought my children would enjoy watering it and watching the pineapple grow to full size.
The garden center told me that in a few months, the pineapple would grow large enough to remove and eat, and if we continued to care for the plant, another pineapple would begin to flower the following spring and we could watch it grow all over again.
I thought that was so exciting. My kids thought so too. They named the plant “Spikey” and fought over who would get the privilege of watering it every day.
A few short weeks later, no one was really interested in watering Spikey anymore. Spikey didn’t grow to be a nice, big, edible pineapple. He slowly wilted away.
So you see? It’s really good that Spikey wasn’t an animal. Plants simply make way more sense. They are definitely more pleasant to dispose of when they die.
Our current pet is working out much better than Spikey did, and I highly recommend this one. We’re currently growing microgreens. Right now, it’s Tuesday. I planted the microgreens on Thursday. After six days, my children are still interested in having the privilege of watering them. I think that’s a record. The reason these microgreens are capturing their attention is because they grow so fast that the kids can actually see them grow. It’s quite amazing.
My microgreens are planted in an acrylic tray (so they’re actually in style too), so after planting them on day one, we could see the seeds actually take root in the soil on day two. On day four, when my children woke up, they were able to see the first greens! More popped up throughout the day. Today, the whole planter was full of greens.
One morning, my daughter decided to spray the seeds that didn’t grow. Later in the day, those seeds sprouted. It’s very gratifying to actually see daily progress when growing a plant. They named my tray of microgreens “Leafy.”
Planting the Greens
This morning, I was pulling pieces of roast to make pulled-beef tacos. We know that pulled beef is not the prettiest sight when it’s all in one big bowl. My daughter saw me and said, “Eww. I’m never going to make that. If my husband wants that, he’s going to have to cook or you’re going to have to make it for me.”
So I suppose I feel the same way about soil. Planting things is really not my thing. I feel so lucky to live in an era when we can buy ready-made, dirt-free produce in the supermarket. This is why, when I knew that I wanted to plant microgreens, I needed a really practical solution, and I found the perfect kit on Amazon; it came with a beautiful acrylic tray, seeds, and a spray bottle for watering. It also came with a completely dehydrated disc of soil that looked like a cross between a coaster and a hockey puck.
As per the instructions, I placed the coaster in the tray, added two cups of water, and waited 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, that little coaster had soaked up all the water and had transformed itself into a tray full of soft, moist soil. After flattening it out and sprinkling the seeds on top, I was done.
To read more, subscribe to Ami
